Proceedings of the British Pharmacological Society

There has been renewed emphasis on the treatment of ventricular extrasystoles and other cardiac arrhythmias since the introduction of intensive coronary care. At present there is no drug which is completely satisfactory for the long-term control of arrhythmias. Quinidine, procainamide, propranolol and phenytoin all have undesirable side-effects. We have studied the effects on experimental cardiac arrhythmias of a new compound, Ko 1173 (1-(2',6'-dimethyl-phenoxy)-2-aminopropane; Boehringer, Ingleheim), whose actions on the central nervous system are similar to those of phenytoin (Danneberg & Giesemann, personal communication). The effect of Ko 1173 on these arrhythmias is compared with those of phenytoin and procainamide.